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Many judges and Supreme Court officials say that capital punishment is not cruel and unusual, but they do not always tell all the facts about some of the methods that are used during an execution. They can be very painful and humiliating. One such method is the electric chair. Since 1976, 144 people have been executed by the electric chair (Bobit 1), which is the most visually destructive way. The way this is done is the prisoner is strapped to a specially made chair that has electric wires in it. The prisoner usually leaps forward against the restraints when the switch is thrown. The body changes colors, swells, they lose all control of their bodily functions and sometimes the body even catches fire (Bobit 1). Another method of execution that is cruel is lethal injection. It is used in 34 states and since 1976, 406 prisoners have been executed by way of lethal injection (Bobit 2). Doctors claim that this is the most humane way of execution, but since so many prisoners have scars from drug use, finding a useable vein can be a lengthy and painful process, sometimes requiring minor surgery (Bobit 2). It can take anywhere from minutes to hours for executions to be carried out this way.
There are alternative ways of making a murderer pay then just letting them take the easy way out. "Capital punishment is opposed because the crime has already been committed, and isolation can protect society against further violence" (Cauthen 3). Life imprisonment can be far worse then the death penalty because with prolonged incarcerations you are forced to remember what you did every day of your life and you have be faced with the fact that you will never get out of that little cell (Endres). With life imprisonment you don't have to worry about irredeemable miscarriages or malfunctions of the justice system (Endres). In the state of Florida, the government spends an average of 535,000 dollars for each prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment which is much more economical then the $3.
